All language subtitles for Liza.A.Truly.Terrific.Absolutely.True.Story.2024.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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[movie reel whirring, buzzing]

[gentle music]

-[nostalgic music]
-[crew chatting in background]

I love it when the
camera's a little higher,

just a little.

Sorry.

I may be my mother's daughter,

but there's a lot
of my father in it.

[Liza scatting]

Oh, Lenny, it's great.

[gentle nostalgic music]

Can you get this?

Okay.

I wish you had a light
that went right in my face.

[gentle piano music]

Okay, a little bit higher.

I'm talking to you.

-Is that perfect?
-That was perfect.

-That's what I always say.
-[Liza laughing]

[crowd cheering, applauding]

On the schnoz too.
[laughing]

[nostalgic music]

[Director] Let's all
settle down, please.

-Shut the fuck up.
-Shut the fuck up.

[Liza laughing]

-[clapper board clicking]
-[dramatic drum roll music]

[Announcer] Ladies and
gentlemen, Liza Minnelli.

[dramatic performance music]
[audience applauding]

Yes.

♪ Say yes ♪

[man] Iconic.

[woman] One of the biggest
stars in the world.

Talent beyond belief.

-Liza Minnelli.
-Liza Minnelli.

-Liza Minnelli.
-The one and only Liza.

♪ When opportunity
comes your way ♪

-Films.
-Concerts.

♪ Wondering what to say ♪
-Broadway.

[Oprah] Tonys, a Grammy,
an Emmy, even an Oscar,

she has done it all.

♪ There's mink and
marigold right outside ♪

[Interviewer] People
think that Liza was born

in a red sequin dress,
belting out a tune.

[Interviewer] She's
weathered some hard times,

both personally
and professionally.

♪ Yes, I'm alive ♪

♪ Yes, I say ♪

[Interviewer] She has
achieved that rare status

where only a first
name is necessary.

I'm a star.

-♪ And yes, I'm going ♪
-She's simply the best.

-Liza!
-♪ On ♪

♪ Yes ♪

Yes.

[audience applauding, cheering]

[chimes music]

[phone ringing]

[pensive music]

["Over the Rainbow"]

[Announcer] Ladies
and gentlemen,

here is young Liza Minnelli.

-How am I doing, Mama?
-Oh, fine, Liza, keep going.

[Interviewer] Judy
and her daughter Liza

at the London Palladium.

♪ Hello, Liza ♪

[phone ringing]

-Hello?
[ring tone sounding]

[somber music]

-[Reporter] Thousands of
people lined the streets

outside the funeral chapel on
Manhattan's Upper East Side

to pay this last tribute

to a woman they had known
since her childhood.

[somber music continues]

[somber music continues]

-Is that Mama?

No!

My mother? Nah.

She's never gonna pass.

And I believed it.

I started crying and I didn't
stop for about eight days.

It just was devastating to me

and I was in charge of so much.

-[Reporter] Her family,
her three children,

Liza Minnelli, Lorna and Joey
Luft attended the services.

[man] It's hard to imagine what
would've happened with Liza

if her mother hadn't passed
away at that moment in her life

because it's kind of
a before and after.

Her mother's passing
was a catalyst.

[somber music]

-She took that period
of time to hone the craft

that her mother had given her,

the legacy she had
passed on to her.

She took the grief as
a period of incubation.

-I think when her mom died,
there was of course sorrow.

Her mother was a massive
person in her life,

but I think there had
to be an element of,

I don't have to worry anymore,

because I mean, her
mom was a worry.

-So what's next?

Her mom has died, she's
grieving, and at the same time,

she's thinking
about her own life.

She's 23, what's she
gonna do in her career

because there was so
much expected of her.

[upbeat music]

♪ Oh, sweet kindness ♪

♪ A little magic,
a little kindness ♪

-She is a talented dancer,

a talented singer,
a great actress,

but these things all
need to be developed.

So she found friends and
mentors who helped her.

-What I was really good at

was picking the
people to be around.

I had a good eye.

I think I still do.

♪ Don't let Annie hear it ♪

♪ We don't believe in
the Jezebel spirit ♪

-It was now or never, so she
set out to create the person

that she wanted to become.

[upbeat music fades]

[chimes music]

-Kay.

♪ Come along and join
a Jubilee ♪

-How smart of you to
show me this right now.

It's giving me courage too.

-[Director] In what way?

-Because it's fun

and I'm nervous
so it helps that.

-The minute her mother died,

Kay Thompson comes
back into Liza's life

as her quirky godmother
who took her under her wing

and gave her this
sort of life wisdom.

-Liza called Kay,
who was in Rome.

Kay immediately flew to
New York and took over.

What are you gonna wear?

What's the casket?

Kay said We need a white casket.

The funeral home said we
don't have white caskets.

And Kay said, "We're
from MGM. Spray it."

[lion roaring]

Kay really started
to mentor Liza

at a time when Liza
didn't know who she was.

Was she Judy Garland's daughter?

Who was she supposed to be?

-Her fight was to find who
she was, not her mother.

She knew who her mother was.

She didn't wanna be her mother.

-Kay Thompson is always
referred to as larger than life,

but Liza was also
larger than life

and Liza became larger than
life because she watched Kay.

♪ Kay Thompson,
Kay, Kay Thompson ♪

♪ Hello hello ♪

♪ We're having a
birthday party ♪

♪ A lot like Jubilee time,
a lot like Jubilee time ♪

-Kay Thompson was a
singer, a vocal arranger,

a composer, a lyricist,
a cultural icon,

a fashion icon, an author
of the Eloise books.

Kay supposedly created
the character of Eloise

patterned in part after Liza.

She became a mentor musically
first to Judy Garland,

and then to Liza Minnelli.

-Hi.

Bonjour Paris.

I'm heavenly. Hi, there.

-There was this deep bond

where they were
like two girlfriends

and shared this
spiritual life together

and Kay opened up
the world to Liza

to have a different perspective,

an off kilter perspective,
a kooky perspective of life.

-[Kay] With
pleasure, my darling.

We're both from the Virgin
Islands, so let's go.

-Okay, thank you.
-I love you sweat tears.

Is that from the Virgins?

[Liza and Kay singing
in foreign language]

-[Liza] Kay wrote
that, I love that song.

-I was really happy to
be invited to be in a show

that ended up being called
"Liza's at the Palace."

We toured for three years,
ended up on Broadway.

It was interesting
that after much touring

and some illnesses, Liza
took this return to Broadway

as a celebration
of Kay Thompson.

-She was so original, the
way she would teach you stuff.

I mean, when my parents were
gone, she never left my side.

We were so close,
I was such a fan.

She was it.

She was it for me.

She understood my fears
and what worried me

and she always knew what to say.

I got the jitters.

-Don't have.
-Just a little.

-Oh, well, a little is great.

-When you get up there,

you suddenly realize
what's expected of you

and you get scared.

-[Kay] But I think
we get that way

because we think we have
to do more than we can do,

which is the dumbest form
of insanity in the world.

You can only do what
you can do, no more.

-That's true.

The most important thing,
and Kay told me this,

don't go around with
people you don't like.

Or even if you're curious
about people you don't,

don't do it.

-[Kay] And if I get killed
in an elevator tonight,

don't waste your time
with dull people.

-Okay.

-[Kay] It's like an emery board

going over you all the time.

[Liza laughing]

It's terrible and you
become dull yourself.

All right, now what you
can do is turn around

so that's because what
you've got in back of you.

[Kay speaking in French]

-She taught me everything.

She taught me how to live life,

how to appreciate everything
that we were going through.

♪ People to be ♪

[upbeat jazzy music]

♪ What some people and me ♪

Give me more level.

Does it sound good back there?

-[Kay] Beautiful sound.

-Wish I could give
myself just a little more.

She'd seen me start to shake,
so I was putting my makeup on

and she'd say...

♪ Happy days are here again ♪

♪ The skies are bright ♪

You know.

She'd kept me
singing, I'd relax.

-The theater is beautifully
perfect acoustically.

And this sound is heavenly.

What more can I say?

-She would stand
backstage with me sometimes

and she'd slap me on the
behind and say, "Go!"

I went "Wow!" I was
on stage. [laughing]

-So I mean, honey,
you're in, you know?

Hi, there.

-How do I wanna say that?

Kay never felt
particularly attractive.

She said she had a new
face made of old material.

Great line.

She had a real feeling
of being less than,

and then moving to Hollywood

where everyone is beautiful
must have been crushing.

So I think that's perhaps
where some jealousy came from.

She was the one with the talent

and she was coaching all
of these other people

to do what she did.

So there were a couple withering
comments here and there

from Kay that I know
would hurt Liza.

There was a lot of
jealousy in Kay Thompson.

♪ All kinds of weather ♪

♪ What if the sky should fall ♪

♪ I don't know ♪

♪ [indistinct] ♪

♪ Where we going ♪

♪ It doesn't matter ♪

-During the last
years of Kay's life,

Liza took care of
her in her own home,

round the clock
staff, the best food.

Liza gets her star in heaven

for treating her so beautifully.

-And the last words she
ever said to me were these.

"Goodbye, darling.

Happy everything!"

[audience applauding]
[gentle music]

-I think Kay, the mentor, made
Liza the superstar possible.

[chimes music]

-Hi, I'm Liza.

When I was 18,

I went in New York one night
to the Ambassador Theater

and there I saw something
that I'll never forget.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have brought you a
present from France.

Charles Aznavour.

Charles Aznavour
changed my life.

He changed my entire life.

I don't think I'm
a real good singer,

but I can act some.

♪ So we are alone
again tonight ♪

♪ I read a book, you
watch the fight ♪

♪ Stifled you on a can of beer ♪

♪ What an enthralling
atmosphere ♪

♪ And yet the sight
of you this way ♪

♪ Helps me say what I must say ♪

[Liza chuckling]

Which was written
by Charles Aznavour.

-She'd learned a
lot from Aznavour.

I mean, it all paid off.

-I see her taking the
advice of Charles Aznavour

very seriously with
lyrics and interpretation.

-Aznavour is one
of the most beloved

iconic French
singers/songwriters/performers

who was mentored by Edith Piaf,

with whom he had a relationship
very early in his career.

-[Reporter] He personified
French culture to the world.

-[Reporter] Aznavour
sold 180 million records.

-[Reporter] The
French Frank Sinatra.

[upbeat music]

[Charles singing in French]

-[Interviewer] Tell us
all you have to know.

-First of all, to be
honest with the public

and to be kind of
an actor on stage,

much more than to open the
mouth and throw a voice out.

[Charles singing in French]

-When you see Aznavour
perform, even if it's in French

and you don't understand
what he's saying,

he has that same
ability to communicate

and make you feel the
gamut of every emotion.

[Charles singing in French]

[Liza singing]

When Liza saw Aznavour, she
said, "That's it. That's it."

It was different from
what her mother did

and Aznavour was this embodiment

of not only the show business
part and the vocal part,

but the grittiness of life.

[Charles speaking in French]

[Liza speaking in French]

[Charles speaking in French]

[jazzy music]

-Charles Aznavour is the
person Liza has credited

with being one of the
architects of helping her find

her own voice.

[jazzy music continues]

-The creative part
of their relationship

was really good for Liza
because I remember Frank saying

about Liza when she
started out, he said,

"Not everything has to
be the national anthem."

And I knew what he meant,
but I didn't say anything.

Aznavour, I think from Aznavour,

she saw a way of delivering
the song in a way

that was closer,
closer to the heart.

She can do the big stuff

and her mom always did
the the big stuff too,

but I think being
able to do both

is something that she showed
more of after Aznavour.

[gentle music]

[gentle music continues]

[chimes music]

[playful music]

-I always wanted to dance.

It was the first
thing I could do.

I loved it.

I danced before I sang,
before I did anything.

I wanted to be in a
dance company, you know?

'Cause what I loved
so much was...

♪ I want a natural ♪

Cut and go to the clip.

♪ I want a natural man ♪

♪ I want a natural man ♪

♪ I want a natural man ♪

♪ I want a natural man, yes ♪

-Liza grew up
surrounded by dance.

♪ Shout hallelujah,
come on get happy ♪

♪ You better chase
all your cares away ♪

-Not only because
of her mother,

but also because of her father

-Out in the audience,
Vincente Minnelli.

[buzzer buzzing]

-Quiet! Roll sound.

-Vincente Minnelli was a
true Hollywood visionary.

He was an extraordinary
director of iconic musicals,

American in Paris and The
Band Wagon, and GiGi.

And he had this eye
for perfectionism

and that is the thing
that Liza inherited

and that's one of the most
important traits in who she is.

-Well, my father inspired
me with everything,

especially art, and
from watching him
direct everybody else,

he was a tyrant, you know.

Come here, camera.

I don't want it straight away
or down, I want it there.

Now tilts It, too far,
there, that's the angle.

Vincente Minnelli's daughter,

what are you gonna do?
-I know.

-[Liza] I just loved
hanging out at the studio

where my father
and mother worked,

especially when my father was
directing dance sequences.

-Sometimes she
would come on the set

and I said, "Who is that girl?"

He said, "That's
Vincente's daughter."

She'd sing a little number and
she'd do a little dance step.

Great enthusiasm.

[movie reel clicking]

-I learned by watching.

You know.

[upbeat music]

There was something
about movement,

the choreography
that thrilled me,

to move through the air.

I just knew I had to do it.

I didn't have the
classic dancer's body.

I discovered that
I had scoliosis

and one leg went
higher than the other.

I was really
insecure about this,

but I had to learn
to deal with it.

Emphasize what
you think is good,

and what you don't
like, change it.

[upbeat music]

-There was a sense
that Liza needed to take

all of this raw dance talent

and channel it into
something bigger,

something greater
that she was feeling.

So on the scene
comes a dance legend

who would channel her
talents and change her life.

-You know me.

I directed the show's
"Pippen" and "Chicago"

and the films
"Cabaret" and "Lenny,"

but still people
don't know my face.

[lively drum beat music]

-Bob Fosse started out dancing

as a young boy in
his native Chicago.

He moved to choreography
on Broadway,

becoming one of the
biggest in the business.

Later directing shows

and then eventually inevitably
to directing motion pictures.

-Bob Fosse to work with was
very precise and humorous.

-He was a perfectionist in
terms of the choreography.

Do it one more time.

You didn't do, you didn't,
do, jip, boo. [chuckling]

-A signature Bob Fosse
move would be his hands,

the hips,

the tilt of the head.

And it's the simplicity of
the move that is so powerful.

It's not the
cartwheel, the split,

and the jump and the
bang, bang, bang.

No, it's a quiet moments.

Little things like
a flick of a head,

a look.

These are Fosseisms.

-I think we should
mention somewhere in here

about my audition for the
Broadway show of "Cabaret"

and not getting it.

-Ah, baby.

-Originally when it was
conceived for Broadway,

I lost the role.

It was something I
always wanted to do.

I always wanted to
do Sally Bowles.

And then when they
made the film,

I just petitioned for
it, I fought for it.

I wanted to sing it, that's all.

Is that too simple an answer?

So I finally got the role

and Bob Fosse was gonna direct.

Oh my God.

We met at the
Waldorf coffee shop.

I must have made him
nervous or something

because he suddenly
got vaguely defensive.

He suddenly said, "How do you
feel about going topless?"

I said, "I won't do it."

There's always a way around it.

And he said, "All right,
I was just wondering."

Right away we clicked.

He was some kind
of sexy and wacko

and had this great
sense of humor.

-When Liza talks about
Fosse, she always says,

"I'm a director's daughter.

I understood how
to deal with him."

-The Liza-Fosse combination.

I always felt that Liza knew
how to get the most out of him.

♪ Money makes the
world go around ♪

♪ The world go around ♪

♪ The world go around ♪

♪ Money makes the
world go around ♪

♪ It makes the world go round ♪

-I was not a trained dancer.

Liza was much more so,

and she would always
say, "It's gonna be fine.

Ssh, don't say anything.

Shut the fuck up." And I did.

♪ And you haven't
any cold stove ♪

♪ And you freeze in the winter ♪

♪ And curse through
the ceiling ♪

-Liza's feet were bleeding,

so I went to Bob and said,
"Her feet are bleeding.

I don't think she can dance."

And he said, "Yeah, she can.

She's getting paid a lot of
money and that's what she does."

-Okay, can we do
that once more?

A few more lines than before.

-She was totally in awe of him.

She did whatever he wanted.

-Something happened during
the shooting of a scene

and Fosse was blaming her

and after the shoot
was over, he said,

"Liza, I wanna see you
in my office right now."

She said, "No, Bobby, we'll
talk about it tomorrow."

He said, "Right now."

And she said, "No, Bobby,
if I go in there now,

you're gonna say things to me
that are gonna be so horrible

that tomorrow morning you're
gonna send me flowers.

So we'll talk
about it tomorrow."

I think it's so
revealing and so smart.

[pensive music]

-I remember going
to rent the movie

and being so in
love with this chick

that was playing Sally Bowles.

I was just like, she's hot,
she's sexy, she's weird.

-She had that fierceness and
also so much vulnerability.

-Sally Bowles to me
was a woman of life

and yet a tragic
expression of life

and I think that Liza
identified with the silent part

of herself that the
public didn't know

and she had a chance to express
it through Sally Bowles.

-So I went to my
dad and I said,

"Well, do I have to
dye my hair blonde

and pull out all my eyebrows?"

And he said, "No,
no, no darling."

And he showed me Lya de Putti

and he showed me Louise Brooks.

And he said, "There's
a way to do this

and you'll figure it out."

You have to be absolutely
concentrate on what you're doing

and who this person is

and what happened to her
to become this person.

One day I went into this store

and this wonderful lady
called Christina Smith

was selling these
enormous eyelashes,

and I thought that
would be good for her

because she wants
to look special.

She's not trying
to be beautiful.

-I made those lashes by hand.

They're long in the
center and that lowers.

Of course, she had
naturally big eyes.

I just enhanced them.

-The Liza lashes are
iconic on their own terms,

but never more
than as Sally Bowles

where it seems like each lash

has like a black pearl
at the end or something.

It adds to the
hyperrealism of the movie.

-She needed to be special.

She needed to be special.

-[Announcer] Sally Bowles!

[audience applauding]
[upbeat music]

-When you think
about Liza as a dancer

before she worked with
Fosse, she was girlish.

If you look at footage of
her on the Ed Sullivan Show-

-Liza Minnelli.
-She was clearly

very talented, but
she was kind of gangly

and all over the place.

Fosse brought a
kind of discipline

and focus to her dancing

that made her just
shine like a jewel.

-I have a a back problem.

Every time I pick anything up

and have to be
very kind of calm,

it would go [imitating
back vibrating] like this.

They had to glue everything down

for me so it wouldn't rattle.

-Sometimes the muscles would
tremble even from the rear.

You know, she'd be
acting very calm

and you look at her rear...

[all laughing]

-Fosse was such
fun to work with

and a marvelous director,
just knew what he wanted.

Plus he knew what I could do.

[upbeat music]

-He was smart
enough to recognize

what a hard worker she was,

how the talent just
oozed from her.

♪ Have to understand
the way I am, mein herr ♪

-He used the quirkiness
of her body movements,

the quirkiness of her
torso to her advantage

and presented her really in
a new and fascinating way.

♪ Bye-bye my leiberherr ♪

♪ Farewell my lieberherr ♪

♪ It was a fine affair ♪

♪ But now it's over ♪

-She has this enormous
amount of talent

that all you have to
do is push a button

or make a slight
suggestion and she said,

"Oh, I know, I know."

Or she's overdoing something

and I think sometimes Liza
tends to be over emotional.

You just have to say,
"Liza, pull back a little."

And it's just like
some beautiful machine.

She just knows how
much to pull back.

♪ The continent of Europe
is so wide, mein herr ♪

♪ Not only up and down, but
side to side, mein herr ♪

-There's definitely the times
when she lets the tidal wave

flow and it's thrilling, but
in this very controlled way.

♪ But I do what I can ♪

♪ Inch by inch, step by step ♪

♪ Mile by mile ♪

-When she gets to
the like "man by man"

and it's just so
like lascivious.

♪ Man by man ♪

-I mean it's Liza doing

what Liza does that
no one else does

and it's Liza doing it better
than Liza has ever done.

[upbeat music]
[actors singing]

[audience applauding]

-Divine decadence.
I'm Sally Bowles.

-You worry for her because
she's making mistakes

and making demands of herself

and others that are going
to just lead to a bad place.

-Brian.

I really do love you.

-I think you do love me.

-But you're never
fed up with her.

You never stop worrying about
her and you never stop caring.

♪ What good is sitting
alone in your room ♪

♪ Come hear the music play ♪

[camera shutters clicking]

-The film comes out,
it's universally acclaimed

as great art
immediately, immediately,

and the film becomes a
tremendous box office success.

♪ The book and the gloom ♪

♪ It's time for a holiday ♪

♪ Life is a cabaret ♪

-Liza Minnelli.
-[audience applauding]

♪ Come to the cabaret ♪

-I would like to
thank Mr. Fosse

and Fred Ebb and John Kander.

Thank you for giving
me this award.

You've made me very happy.

[Liza singing]

-She was immediately then
a huge star after "Cabaret."

That was like everybody
wanted to be with Liza.

[upbeat music]

Everybody wanted her
at their parties.

She was getting offered
better and better movies,

better boyfriends.
♪ Cabaret ♪

-It was a big deal.
[audience applauding]

[chimes music]

-[Director] Let's talk about
relationships, marriages.

-Give me a gay break,
will ya? [laughing]

I'm sorry, cut that.

Well, I feel
wonderful about love

because I wanted to be like
it was in the songs, you know?

-Okay, I think we should talk
about men in our past lives.

She's had a lot of men.

-How about you?
-Excuse me.

-No, I had men that
nobody knew about.

I knew about all her men.

-And some of them
weren't men at all.

[all laughing]

-I have to be careful
here 'cause Liza

doesn't wanna talk a lot
about her relationships.

It's a very private
thing for her,

yet many of these
liaisons were very public.

-She was taught
by her MGM parents

how to make things
sound fantastic.

Liza will never go on camera
and talk about the dirt.

-I can only say that
she wanted to consume

the fullness of life.

I don't think she has
any regrets in that area.

[upbeat music]

-She loses all of her bearings

and all of her judgment.

This person, this is great,
this is gonna be great.

This is it.

[upbeat music continues]

-She gets very into
people very quickly

so she's had some really
unique relationships

lasting a short period of time.

She throws herself
into the relationship

with the same passion that she
throws herself into a song,

but then just like in a song,

you then go on to the next song.

-My engagement
to Desi Arnaz has,

well, the relationship has been
deteriorating for some time.

There is no more engagement,
that's all called off.

I also met a man
called Peter Sellers

and fell in love with him

and a very pleased to
say that he fell in love

with me too. [laughing]

-When you do get married,

you'll be the fourth
Mrs. Peter Sellers.

Does this thought
bother you at all?

-Oh no, four is my
lucky number, my dear.

-Liza has acknowledged

that she didn't always
make the greatest decisions

in relationships
and laughs about it

because there was genuine
love, deep love in every one

of those relationships
in different ways.

-And she said, "I wanna
take a picture just for us."

I said, "Okay, sure."

So we got off my shirt
she took off her blouse

and we took the shot.

What the photo is saying is
exactly what was in my mind.

I got you.

Then next thing I know,
it was in "Newsweek."

Next thing I know it's
[laughing] all over the world.

I'm sure a lot of
society was shocked,

but it never entered our bubble.

It was two people were
sharing a moment in time.

It didn't stop to say,

well, what does that
white guy think about it?

Or what's that black guy
going to think about it?

We didn't care.

It was in our world.

-No, you didn't.

-Wow.

Wow.

Excuse me.

I guess you'd call it love.

I love Liza.

That's my baby.

-Some of these relationships
didn't last as relationships,

but many of them are
long-lasting friendships

over the years.

♪ Maybe this time ♪

♪ For the first time ♪

♪ Love won't hurry away ♪

-I tell you my favorite song

that she sings is
"Maybe this Time,"

and you felt when she
was singing it, you know,

you hoped that maybe this
time would be the time

because she sure deserved it.

♪ It's gotta happen ♪

♪ Maybe sometime ♪

♪ Maybe this time ♪

♪ Maybe this time ♪

♪ Real ♪
[grand music]

[audience applauding]

-Now been married twice
with one divorce behind you,

and yet I wonder how
you really have survived

and how you really cope.

-I was expecting all the pretty
things that I'd heard about

and I got a lot of them.

-One time Judy
Garland was on stage

and somebody yelled
out, "Marry me,"

and Garland said, "Marry
you? With my track record?"

And that's kind of like
Liza, the way she jokes.

It's like, you know,
my track record.

[intense music]

-Peter Allen was so hilarious

and so much fun to be with
and he was so great on stage.

-When Liza talks about
Peter Allen to this day,

she always talks about his
talent, his incredible ability

as a musician, as a composer.

She was deeply in love with him

and they in a certain way
remained in love with each other

for the rest of his life.

-The happiest I saw her with
somebody in her private life

was with Peter Allen.

But, you know, there
were other elements.

-She was truly devastated
when she discovered Peter

in a compromising
situation with another man.

And people always say, "How
could she have not known?"

She didn't know.

I absolutely believe that.

-I think that he
felt restricted.

He needed literally to come out.

Oh, Jack.

[people chattering
in background]

-When Liza married
Jack Haley Jr,

there was all this talk
about the daughter of Dorothy

marries the son of the Tin Man

and they were a perfect match
for each other in the sense

that they both grew
up in Hollywood

and they had beautiful shorthand
when they were together

and had a great deal of fun.

♪ When love comes in and
takes you for a spin ♪

[both speaking gibberish]

-Larger than life, loved
to have a good time,

loved to hear wonderful
stories, loved to gossip.

He really, really
loved my sister.

-I mean, I love Jack and all,

but I didn't think Jack was a
good match for her, frankly.

-In many ways, Mark Gero
was Liza's most solid husband

because Mark wasn't
in show business.

Mark was a sculptor
and he was solid.

He was a solid rock.

-Mark was soulful in a
way and Mark was quiet.

I think that Mark was a form
of stability that she needed.

[playful music]

-That last husband of hers,

I was at the wedding, oh my God.

-When Liza met David
Gest, we were with her.

It was during a period
of time in Liza's life

when she wasn't doing
so well physically.

She'd gained a lot of weight

and David Gest charmed
her and romanced her.

David Gest had a gift of
gab, nothing was real,

and basically for a
while, took over her life.

He took everybody in her
life out of her life.

-I never, I did not know him.

I didn't know him and so I don't
have a lot to say about him

'cause I didn't know him.

-It ended when Liza went
on tour and she came back

and David Gest took everything
out of the apartment,

left her with a bed and a lamp.

There's a bed and one lamp.

-Every picture was off the
wall, everything was gone.

-He took every picture,
every piece of furniture,

put it in storage.

-Even her record albums.

-Well, you know, he's
not around anymore

and I don't wanna
speak ill of the dead.

-Betty Davis said
you should only speak

good about the dead.

Well David Gest is dead, good.

[gentle music]

-Ladies and gentlemen,
not only the most talented

and marvelous person I know,

but my best and dearest friend,

and if it weren't for him, I
wouldn't be here, Mr. Fred Ebb.

-Fred Ebb.

[gentle music]

-I think Fred
really invented me.

He really did.

He knew me so well
and so deeply.

[audience applauding]

[jazzy music]

♪ For every man
there's a woman ♪

♪ For every life there's a fan ♪

-Was she like everybody
who starts, I think was,

was imitating everybody and not,

she needed a style of her own.

So out of that came
my opinion that she

should just be who she
is, which is terrific.

-He was a complicated guy.

He was wonderful.

He was incredibly
funny, he was acerbic.

He could have very
dark sense of humor

and his alter ego was Liza.

He helped to expand
things in her

that she didn't
even see in herself.

-And it really started
with a song, the first piece

of a special material that
Freddy ever wrote for me

with Johnny, John Kander.

Of course it was
"Liza with a Z."

-I mean, he wanted to
be Liza in a certain way.

I mean, he wanted
to be that persona.

He wanted to be that performer

and he was able to
channel certain aspects

of himself through her.

-Would you sing it?
-Me?

-Oh yeah.
Freddy, everybody.

-You sing it.
-Yeah.

[audience applauding]

♪ It's Liza with a Z,
not Lisa with an S ♪

♪ 'Cause Lisa with an
S goes /s/, not /z/ ♪

♪ It's Z instead of
S, Li instead of Le ♪

♪ Simple as can be, see Liza ♪

♪ Now if my name were Ada ♪

♪ I'd be Ada even
backwards I'd be Ada ♪

♪ Or if my name were Ruth ♪

♪ Then I'd be Ruth
because it's Ruth ♪

♪ What can you do ♪

♪ Or Sally or Margaret
or Ginger Mofet ♪

♪ But when you're a Liza ♪

♪ You always have to say ♪

♪ It's Liza with a Z,
not Lisa with an S ♪

♪ 'Cause Lisa with an
S goes /s/, not /z/ ♪

[Liza laughing]

[Liza singing]

-It's a whole song about how
people say your name wrong.

-That's right, guys.
[audience laughing]

♪ Or Minoli or Miniola
or Mineli or Minelai ♪

♪ So is it a wonder I
very often cry, sing it ♪

[Fred singing]

-[Liza] The way Freddy
wrote his lyrics,

it was like somebody
talking to you.

♪ Liza Minnelli ♪

♪ It's Italian,
blame it on Papa ♪

-And I know how to do a lyric.

The words are so important.

[gentle music]

-Fred and I were brought
together, I guess it was 1962,

by our publisher and our
backgrounds were very different.

I come from Kansas City
and a family background

which was considerably
more placid.

That being said, when Fred and
I went in the room to write,

we immediately became one person

and that was true really
till the day he died.

-[Host] Here are the
composer and lyricist,

John Kander and Fred Ebb.
[audience applauding]

-They were professional,

but they were also
godfathers kind of to her.

I mean, they were really close
and key in her creative life

and therefore, you know,
in in her heart and soul.

[jazzy music]

-Liza first came into our
lives on a cloudy afternoon

when we were
working on the score

for "Flora the Red Menace."

We were very close to casting

and that afternoon
the doorbell rang

and there was this person.

-And I came in and said,

"Do you have any songs
that I could sing, please?

So may I please sing
some of your songs?"

-That's right, I
remember what you wore.

-What did I wear?
-Jeans,

and an old ratty sort of
turtleneck, a black turtleneck

and it had a hole in
it, which I stared at.

[Liza laughing]

And you were biting your nails

and I said, "God, she's cute."

-Just for fun, we went
through all the songs in "Flora"

and she nailed it instantly

and she became right
then and there the person

that we wanted to
play that part.

She never stopped being a major
player in both of our lives.

♪ Some peppy melody
about rainbows blending ♪

-Liza had a lot to learn,

but she had the thing
that you can't teach.

-She just gave
her all to Freddy,

and in doing so, she blossomed.

-Well, he was also
very parenting to Liza.

And he would tell her if
she did something wrong,

he didn't hold back.

He would say, "You
can't do that."

-My friend, my big brother.

He bawled me out when
I needed it, you know?

And he told me how
to sing a lyric

so that it was believable.

You could just be yourself.

That's all you had to be.

And Freddy taught me that.

He said, "The minute
you think you're acting,

then people think
you're acting."

I said, "Yeah, you're right."

-There's nothing about
you that's unattainable

which is why I think you're
as great a star as you are.

All those people care about
you and your vulnerability

and there's a humanity
about you when you walk out.

♪ When you see me ♪

♪ Hobbin nobbing on
the top of the town ♪

♪ My emeralds weighing me down ♪

-And I would do something and
Freddy would put up his hand

and they'd cut.

And Freddy come over
and whisper to me,

"Hold your head
up a little higher

like you were saying
something really important."

I'd go, "Mm-hmm." [laughing]

And then I'd hold
my head up higher.

-With Fred, it was a very
close offstage relationship

and a very close
professional relationship

and the two very
much melded together.

-So he would steer me away

from talking about
my mom too much.

He said because
when that happens,

they think about
her and not you.

-[Reporter] Liza, I realized
you must have learned

a lot of things by
watching your mother.

-She was very
proud of her mother,

but it was such a
complicated relationship.

-Liza used to talk about
being at the London Palladium

with her mom in '64.

That was a defining
moment for her.

[audience applauding]

She came on stage
and she started

to get this extraordinary
reaction from the audience.

[Liza singing]

[audience applauding]

Her mom got pissed.

[Liza and Judy singing]

Judy's pushing the microphone
up to Liza's face to show

that she's the professional
and Liza's the amateur.

And suddenly Liza said,

"My mother went
from being my mother

and turned into Judy Garland."

That was a defining
moment for Liza.

-Fred understood being
always compared to Judy

made her feel terrible.

-Give me your
sketch of your mom.

-Your mother.
-Your mother.

-Your mother.
-Your wonderful mother.

-If I could walk you
down your mother's

old yellow brick road,
take you to the wizard,

what would be the one wish
for yourself that you'd make?

-That you wouldn't
ask me another question
about my mother.

[Liza laughing]

[audience applauding]

-I think it was the
night of her club act

that we did for her.

[audience applauding]
[grand music]

Because I can remember Liza
sitting in front of the mirror

and she was terrified
because Judy

was coming out to the show

and it was Liza at her
most unhappy and insecure.

And Judy is there telling
Liza how wonderful she is,

but also patting her
on the legs saying,

"This is what we've always
wanted, isn't it baby?"

And I cannot explain to you
why that was the wrong thing

to say, but it took the
evening away from Liza.

[somber music]

-Fred helped her
evolve from the daughter

of Judy Garland legacy

to the sequin amazing
performer on her own.

You can see the
beginnings of all of that

in "Liza with a Z."

[horn music]

-I was asked to do a television
special and Fred Ebb said,

"I wanna do the first
concert for television.

It's never been done before
and I want Bobby to do it."

-This is a concert in
the medium of television,

the small screen, which it
could be dangerous, you know,

in that some entertainers
are not good on television

because they're larger
than life on stage.

[audience applauding]

-It was for one night,
it's one shot only.

It was amazing, it
was nerve wracking.

I walked out there like I
didn't have a care in the world

and I don't know where
I got the bravado.

I don't know anything
except that I was felt safe.

♪ I gotcha, uh-huh ♪

♪ You thought I didn't see
you now, didn't ya, uh-huh ♪

♪ You tried to sneak by me
now, didn't ya, uh-huh ♪

♪ Now gimme what
you promised to me ♪

♪ Give it to me, come on ♪

-I thought it was
absolutely phenomenal.

Definitely a new
way of doing things.

[audience applauding]

♪ Blackbird ♪

-So the Liza in "Liza with
a Z" certainly has elements

of the real Liza, but
the Liza with the hat

and with the sequin and
this certain kind of persona

is a character who is Liza,

but also is a different person.

♪ Where somebody waits
for me, Sugar's sweet ♪

♪ So is he ♪

-What Fred Ebb did in
collaboration with her

is to take anything
that was unpolished

and awkward about
Liza, Judy's daughter

trying to make it
in show business,

and either polish it or
embrace the vulnerabilities.

[playful music]

[hands tapping]

And she knew exactly
how to mine that

for everything it's worth.

♪ Fly little blackbird, bye ♪

-When she worked with Fred Ebb,

he rehearsed her where
every single speech

and every single thing she
said on stage was rehearsed,

even though it sounded
incredibly spontaneous.

-The one time that I
got a little snippy,

I was sitting around, I
said, "I don't wanna do that,

I don't wanna do this tonight,"
or something like that.

And Fred Ebb said,
"Liza, just remember,

you're a figment
of my imagination."

And it just so happens that
I told a couple of friends

of mine this truly terrific,
absolutely true story.

And it just so happened

these friends of
mine are songwriters.

-Any singer knows you
got to tell the story

in your singing.

♪ Gather around I
got a story to tell ♪

♪ About a Manhattan lady
that I know very well ♪

♪ She lives at 5 Riverside ♪

♪ Her name is Shirley Divor ♪

♪ And she traveled
round the world ♪

♪ To meet the guy next door ♪

-She's done up in Halston,

who's not just making
her look fabulous,

but making her look iconic.

I mean really capturing
what will be Liza's look

for the rest of her life.

♪ Ring that bell ♪
[grand music]

[audience applauding, cheering]

-Liza proved with
"Liza with a Z"

that she was equally
iconic on the small screen.

And she did that with Fred Ebb.

[grand music]
[audience applauding]

-[Liza] It was like living
in the inside of a diamond.

We won the Emmy for
"Liza with a Z,"

the Oscar for "Cabaret."

It was a very good year.

[audience applauding]

[lively piano music]

[audience applauding]

["New York, New York"]

♪ Start spreading the news ♪

♪ I'm leaving today ♪

♪ I wanna be a part of it ♪

♪ New York, New York ♪

♪ These vagabond shoes ♪

♪ Are longing to stray ♪

-Liza chose to make a film
called "New York, New York,"

which is a more
traditional musical

that is an homage to the 1940s,
directed by Martin Scorsese,

co-starring Robert De Niro.

♪ Cream of the crop at
the top of the heap ♪

♪ Those little town blues ♪

-And it was De Niro who
heard the first version

of "New York, New York"
that Kander and Ebb wrote

and said, "Nah, I
don't like that.

Go back and write
something else."

And can I tell you
how pissed John Kander

and Fred Ebb were
that Robert De Niro

is telling them they have
to write another song?

And out of anger, they
wrote this second song

that became the iconic "New
York, New York" that we know.

-In case you don't
know this, folks,

this little girl did this song
before anybody did this song.

It's true, she really did.
[audience applauding]

And I had to stick
my nose in it.

[upbeat music]

[chimes music]

Jack and I got
stuck in here once.

-[Speaker] Looks like one
of those outer space things.

-What? Stand on that?

Like I always get off an
airplane like that, huh?

Oh my God, we're somewhere,
let's put it that way.

-[Reporter] Hey, Lisa, Lisa.

-It's Liza, you
guys, it's Liza.

[upbeat music]

-When she went to Europe in
the 1970s after "Cabaret,"

after "Liza with a Z,"

she was so busy working
so hard and did so much,

people couldn't
get enough of her.

-[Reporter] Liza Minnelli,
queen of the glitter

and the glamour of
the Hollywood, New
York, European world.

Wherever she goes,

there are people smiling,
flash bulbs popping.

[people chattering]

A certifiable superstar.

[Liza panting]

And still the gossip
people persist.

[people chattering]

-Oh no, we can't.
-Over there, over there.

-Let me go, Freddy.
[people chattering]

-Liza has always said, "I was
born, they took a picture,"

so she understood how
to deal with the press

from a very early age.

It's one of the
loveliest thoughts

any woman could ever hold.

I'm not, but I hope with all
my heart that I will be soon.

-Let me go in front here.

-Why don't you
just wait a minute.

-Well, there's
different degrees of
ugliness, isn't there?

And

I don't really care.

You know, when I'm on
stage, I just do my job.

-Liz Minnelli has lived
her life so much in public.

The burden of that
must be profound.

There's the demand she must
show up as Liza Minnelli.

-I am really thrilled
that they're all here.

It's a little bit scary though.

-I remember talking
to her after a party

that she had been to and I
said, "How was the party?"

And she said, "Oh, it was
okay. They wanted her."

And I said, "What do you mean?"

She said, "You know,
the sequin girl.

I just wanted to be, you know,

the nice lady at the dinner
table and they wanted her."

[people chattering]

-After the press, the
photographs, the concerts,

the rehearsals, being on
stage is her safety zone.

She is most comfortable there.

[Liza singing]

♪ And as for me, ha ♪

[audience applauding]

-Jesus, man, I wonder
if they like it.

-Are they still yelling?
-They're still screaming.

-Isn't that swell?

-There's nobody leaving
the theater at all.

-[Speaker] They are just
standing there, stomping.

You gotta go out and listen.

-Liza needs the
audience to love her.

[audience cheering]

Maybe in someone else's hands
that would be offputting,

but with Liza, it's that need

and that herculean effort to
make the connection with us.

♪ I need your love ♪

♪ That's true, yes, I do ♪

♪ Indeed, I do ♪

♪ You know I do ♪

-[Liza] How long have
you been out there?

-Six hours.
-Six hours?

♪ What I cry for ♪

♪ You know you got
that kind of lovin' ♪

♪ That I starve for ♪

♪ You know you made me ♪

♪ Love ♪

♪ You ♪

[audience applauding]

[dramatic music]

[chimes music]

[gentle piano music]

-Liza deeply, deeply
cares about friends.

If you need something, she
is there for you on a level

that is rare.

She flew from Rome for
two days to Los Angeles

to record a duet with me
on one of my early albums

because she wanted
to be there for me.

-[Liza] We're
backstage at the Muni.

I'm going to see Michael.

Hans Christian Anderson.
It's so exciting.

And this is a closeup,
I promise you.

-It was something
that was difficult

and it was at great
financial expense,

but she was there because
that's what a friend does.

It's that sort of thing
that she will do anything

for you if you need it.

[gentle piano music]

I met Liza Minnelli through
her godfather, Ira Gershwin.

When I met Liza,

it was very much like
meeting a long lost cousin

or a sibling or a family member.

[gentle piano music continues]

I remember when we met at
her father's house, she said,

"You know, from now on
we're joined at the hip."

-[Liza] This is
fabulous, oh, honey.

-I think if the public
sees Liza as a barrel

of sequins and glamour,
they've got her wrong.

Her friends, or the thing
that those friends get right,

is Liza's vulnerability,
her kindness,

and her desire for you
to be friends with her.

-Liza, can make you feel like

the most important
person in the world.

Her gaze is so fixed on you.

I don't know if it's
her need to be loved,

but it's shocking 'cause
that's an unusual quality

in somebody in show business.

[upbeat music]

-[Announcer] "Chicago,"
starring Gwen Verdon,
Chita Rivera,

and Jerry Orbach,
directed by Bob Fosse.

-In "Chicago,"
Gwen Verdon had to

take a six week leave of
absence to have some surgery

and it looked as if maybe
the show might have to close.

-And everything's
going well, how are you?

And Fred said, "We're
in terrible trouble."

I said, "I'll fill in for her."

-And it was the first
time in Broadway history

that a major superstar
acted as a substitute

for a another star that left.

-They actually discovered
her and said, "You're a star.

You can't be a substitute.
You can't be an understudy."

And she says, "I wanna do
it. I wanna save the show."

And she did, she saved the show.

-The people who wrote that show

are Fred Ebb and John Kander.

And as you know,
they're my best friends

and Fred Ebb has guided my
career since I've been 17.

It's really saying, "If you
need somebody, I'm there."

-Liza learned that
entire part in one week,

and I'm telling you one week.

-But she said, "You
don't say my name.

I don't want
publicity about that.

I want word of mouth.

And when people go
into the theater,

I just want an announcement."

-I'm sorry, tonight
the role of Roxy Hart,

usually played by Gwen
Verdon, audience, "Oh.."

Will be played by Liza Minnelli.

Roars of excitement.

And Liza was fucking
brilliant in the part.

[upbeat music]

What motivated her to do it,

I can only say is like
the best part of Liza.

I think she did it as a
favor and she saved the show.

[audience applauding]

-And the only reason
she would do that

is because it was
for her friends.

[upbeat music]

-When we met Liza, I was
a dentist in New York.

Arlene was a housewife.

It was a dinner party
at Elaine's restaurant

and we just hit it off.

It was a great
chemistry, I would say.

-We just had a
connection that we felt

great being with each other

and the conversation
just kept flowing.

-49 years later, we're
still best friends with her.

When she meets somebody,
she is so warm to them

and friendly that people
will meet her once or twice

and come away feeling
she's their best friend.

-It's so real. I
mean, she doesn't think

of herself as being a star.

She thinks of herself as the
people around me made me a star

because I picked
talented people.

She's really modest that way.

[computer ringing]

-Hi, Liza, it's me.
-Baby!

-I hear you had a
party last night.

I wish I could have been there,

but I'm in Connecticut
still, as you know.

-Oh no, but when you come
out here, you're living here.

-I will be there. I will
stay with you, of course.

It'll be like old times.

-We've been joined
at the hips forever.

-We were in the same preschool,

but we really came
together again as friends

when we were about 15.

[upbeat music]

We were in this photo
shoot for "17 Magazine."

After the photo
shoot, I was exhausted

and wanted to go get an ice
cream cone or something.

Liza was going to
her dance class.

She knew at 15 that this
is what she wanted to do.

She wanted to sing,
she wanted to dance.

She was gonna be a great actor.

Movie stars at the time,
they didn't look like Liza,

but she never doubted that
this is what she was gonna do.

She was goal-oriented.

[upbeat music continues]

I know a lot of people who've
been through a lot of stuff

and people get cynical,
people get angry,

but Liza's the same
pure person inside.

I've not heard her say
bad things about anyone,

not in any gratuitous way.

She trusts way beyond
what is rational.

There is a purity of
heart that's unmistakable.

-Bye, darling.

[upbeat music in background]

-So I'm out with my
wife, Michael Feinstein,

Mitzi Gaynor, and
Liza fucking Minnelli.

Michael goes,
"Let's play a song."

And so he plays one
and I sing a tune.

[group singing]

And then it was Liza's turn.

This is like incredible,
I'm sitting with this icon

and it was beautiful
what she sang.

[Liza singing]

At the end of the night,
she's grabbing everybody

and just saying, you know,
this was, I can't do,

I'm not gonna do a
Liza impersonation,

don't make me do that.
But she, you know,

she's grabbing everybody
and goes, "This was great.

This is great. This is the
gang now, this is the gang."

And when she left I was
like, "I'm in the gang now?

It's amazing." And then I went,

"How many people has
she said that to?"

I just like the idea that she
just made us feel so special.

I so enjoyed that sentiment
of this was a good hang.

-It's gonna take a miracle.

Tina.
-Yeah?

-Gotta perform a
miracle on my fache.

-Liza and I became
very close friends

because my husband and
I went on tour with her

and of course they did
many movies with her

and you couldn't help with Liza.

You became very close with her.

Liza always liked to surround
herself with her friends.

Liza wouldn't do the show
unless they hired me.

I wasn't in the union,
they didn't let me in.

They didn't have
women makeup artists

so Liza stood up for me

and I was one of the first
women makeup artists ever.

She was very loyal
to her friends

and they were loyal to her.

-Are you committed
now to settling down?

-Yes.
-Well, tell me about it.

-I desperately want a family.

I...

I really want a family.

[somber music]

-We have been with Liza at
all of her emotional setbacks,

like miscarriages.

-[Arlene] She was all in,

she was all prepared,
it was very sad.

-Can't hear you,
what'd you say?

-[Allan] If she had
to pick one thing

that she's disappointed
in her life

and that's not being a mother.

She would've been
a great mother.

-[Arlene] She
would've been terrific.

-She has so much to give.

-She's always had a
lot of love to give.

-[Allan] She's been so
wonderful with our children.

We have a picture when our
daughter was three years old

around a Christmas
tree, Liza hugging her,

and then 35 years later when
our daughter had a 3-year-old,

we have a picture around
that same Christmas tree.

-Three generation's,
the same picture.

She taught our daughter when
she was about six years old

how to sing "Liza with a Z"
quickly and sing every lyric.

Our daughter was
so proud to sing it

and sang it all over the
place and for everybody.

-She would've been
an incredible mother

and life wasn't perfect.
-Right.

-But she moved on and she's
become part of our family.

I think that's part of
our attraction for her,

that we've kept this bond.

We're sort of the
family she didn't have.

-Even though she wasn't able
to have children of her own,

she seems to have
created her own family

through all the children
who came into her life

and all the godchildren.

-I mean, she's godmother
to my twins who are 50 now.

I mean, and she's never
missed a birthday, anything.

-She's a godmother
to one of my sons.

I was pregnant on tour with her.

Liza was so protective of me

and I ended up in the
hospital after I had him

and she was there all the time

and she brought Sammy
Davis the tap dance for me.

[upbeat music]

I think she feels safe with
people that take care of her.

And she still calls me like
two or three times a week

just to talk.

I have children, she doesn't.

I think she gets lonely.

She doesn't say that, but I
feel that, but I would too.

I don't know what else to say
that I just love her so much.

It makes me cry

'cause I just think that
she did a lot for all of us

and at a time when
things aren't good,

she always came through.

[chimes music]

[upbeat music]

-My father started
as a costume designer,

so when I was little I
was surrounded by fashion.

But the truth is, as a teenager,

I didn't care much
about clothes.

No, 'cause I dressed like
everybody else, mini skirts

and this, that and the other,
and all the wrong things

at that point.

Once I started doing more
one-woman shows and concerts,

I saw how fashion could
be part of the stories

that I would tell in the songs.

I knew I needed a new look
that I could call my own,

one that would reflects me
and connect with the audience.

Halston I met
through Kay Thompson.

-They were at Bergdorf Goodman.

Liza sees a dress on a mannequin

and says, 'Oh my
God, look at the cut.

Look at the style
of that dress."

She said, "That is
brilliant. Who did that?"

And Kay Thompson said, "It's
Halston, let me introduce you."

And she takes Liza upstairs
and introduces her to Halston.

-For me, being around Halston
was as if I were around

a religious entity, a
pope, a king, a god.

-[Announcer] The most
successful single individual

in the history of
American fashion.

[energetic music]

-I think what
influences design most

is the people that you dress

and they tell you pretty
much what they want

and what they need.

Know yourself, know
what suits your purposes

to make you more attractive
and more comfortable.

-When we speak
about the '70s style,

American fashion
coming into its own,

Halston is at the
forefront of that.

He grew up in the Midwest

and he started his
career by making hats.

He became famous
when he designed

Jackie Kennedy's pillbox hat.

Soon though, he moved
on to design clothing.

-The beauty of Halston was

that it was architecturally
amazing and it functioned.

-[Halston] In other words,

I think people
have to work harder

so they need clothes for
those different occasions.

-Clean, simple.

It's even more complicated
when you have simple.

When I first came to work for
Halston, it was taught to me

that fabric needs
to talk to you.

How does a fabric talk to you?

[gentle music]

We would literally take fabric
and put it on a mannequin

and sometimes look at it for
three days and things appear

when you keep looking at them,
it starts talking to you.

And in a sense, it'll tell
you what it wants to do.

The cuts are simple

because the fabric is left
to do what it wants to do

and that was the
genius of Halston.

-Halston was a very
down to earth, practical,

funny man, which I have
not seen depicted recently.

Underneath all of the darling
this and darling that,

there was a real wonderful
guy who found his way

to create his own paradise

and he was able to
do that with Liza.

-I met Halston when I was 19

and I had no idea how to look,

you know, it affects
not just how you dress,

but how you feel,
how you perform.

He was the first one
that gave me confidence.

I had the eye to
know what was good

and what wasn't that great,
but he knew what to do.

-When she met Halston,

he gave her an
entire sense of self.

-Halston was able to
take what she considered

to be negatives about her
body and her self-image

and turn them into positives.

She had scoliosis.

She felt that her body was
not symmetrically perfect,

all these things that she
was insecure about, he used.

-Technically, Halston
paid very acute attention

to Liza's clothes.

Halston was the one
who said to Liza,

"Since you're perspiring
so much on stage,

let's make all of your
wardrobe in sequins."

So with the sparkle,
you can't see

where the perspiration
starts and stops.

And also because Liza's
weight would often fluctuate,

Halston would often
make two and three

or sometimes four of the same
garment in different sizes

so he would be prepared
with her current figure.

Liza went from a
pretty little girl

representing mainstream fashion

overnight to the chicest
girl in the world.

-The adoration that Liza and
Halston had for each other

was always palpable when I
was in the room with them.

They had this deep, deep
love and shared the humor

and the irony of life together.

[gentle music]

-I never performed,
gave a party

or made any real major
important decisions in my life

without my friend, Halston.

When we were together,
it was heaven.

You know.

I'm so lucky and I know that.

-When Liza and
Halston were together,

it's like nobody
else was in the room.

They were so comfortable
with each other.

They would hug and
kiss and cuddle

and just cling to
each other in a way

that was so beautiful.

-When Liza would arrive
at Halston's office,

she brought that
zest, the two of them,

they had nicknames
for one another,

usually perverse nicknames.

It was a brother and
sister relationship.

It was also very
paternal on his side.

They brought each other to life.

-And having lunch
with Halston and her,

we would have conversations
of the next show she's doing

and what are we gonna design,

and there were nights
that we would all go

to Studio 54 together.

♪ Freak out ♪

-Studio 54 is probably
the Mount Olympus

of the disco world.

♪ Freak out ♪

-It was like the
circus pulled into town.

-They're the inspirational
people.

-Did that involve
a lot of things?

Yeah, that's been documented.

-I mean, you had quaaludes,
you had poppers, cocaine.

-Hold it, it wasn't that wacko.

And as far as drugs was
concerned, nobody did drugs.

They just didn't.

-Liza is reluctant to
talk about Studio 54

because everybody focuses on
the excess and the basement

and the debauchery and all that.

For her, studio 54
was a cultural thing.

-What happened with
Studio 54 is Halston

used to give these
wonderful parties

and around 11 or 12
o'clock at night,

he didn't know how
to get rid of people.

He would say to his guests,
let's all go to Studio 54

to get 'em out of the apartment.

-I would just let
the doormen know.

So they would just
be alerted to them

because it was a sea of people.

You can't even believe
the whole block

sometimes were filled.

[people chattering]

And then they would go

and escort them in
if they needed to,

and the seas would part.

[upbeat music]

-They would have some
banquettes in the center

of the dance floor and Halston
would hold court with Liza

and Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger.

-Liza used to
love rum and coke.

Halston used to smoke.

She used to smoke cigarettes.

But all I remember is being
with Halston and being with Liza

and all of us having
the best happy times.

[upbeat music]

-He wasn't just a friend

and a party buddy at Studio 54.

They were each other's muse.

-You think of what
Halston got from Liza

and what Liza got from Halston

and obviously Studio 54,
talk about genius branding.

-Liza became so much
of the female figure

that allowed women to see

how extraordinarily
wondrous Halston was.

Liza was a blueprint
for Halston,

Halston was a
blueprint for Liza.

-The mythology of Studio 54
depends upon its associations

to cultural icons who
themselves were seen

as figures of excess,

and Liza Minnelli, the
company of Halston,

is in some sense one

of the most sequined
figures for that era.

-Can I say one more thing?

The very first collection

that Halston showed at the
Olympic Tower was mind boggling.

[grand music]

[camera shutters clicking]

Liza closed the show.

She came out on the runway

with the most extraordinary
black crepe back satin dress

with nude shoulders.

And she walked the
runway carrying one rose.

At the end of the runway,

she presented it to
Elizabeth Taylor.

Halston came out and
they came down together.

To watch them, was so touching.

They worked together, they
were in love together,

and they represented a
moment that is unmatched

in American fashion history.

[chimes music]

[gentle music]

-[Reporter] Legendary
actress and singer

Liza Minnelli has
checked into rehab.

-[Reporter] The veteran
entertainer is getting treatment

for a substance abuse
issue at a Malibu facility.

-[Reporter] A much
publicized personal battle

against tranquilizer addiction.

-[Reporter] A disease that
she says nearly killed her.

-Honestly, how lucky I
was to have gone through

all of the bad stuff
that I've gone through

because it prepared me
for the rest of my life.

It made me understand a
little bit more about myself.

-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.

-We're gonna sell
out this evening.

-Oh, fabulous.

-The enormity of Liza's success

certainly was a factor with
the incredible pressures

of life and of show business

and becoming a commodity
for so many people

that she's supporting
financially took its toll.

-How you doing?
-Terrific.

-Hmm?
-Fine.

I was the kind of person
that never fell down.

I never missed work.

I never did any of the
things that you think of

when you think of somebody
being a real mess,

but inside, I felt so weird.

I was taking Valium,
prescription drugs,

but I really didn't feel
like I had a drug problem.

And I'd drink silly
drinks like rum and coke.

I started to notice

that drinking made me
feel better for a minute.

It's really that simple.

And then of course, it turned
on me like it always does.

And people who have been through

all the things I'm
thinking about,

know what I'm talking about.

-I never got drunk
anywhere. [laughing]

I would like to
have, but I can't.

It makes my stomach sick.

I know in the '70s, I
used to tell interviewers

that I was terrified of drugs
and didn't even take aspirin.

Well, kids, that's
called denial.

I didn't want anyone to know
that I was less than perfect,

that I was under stress.

I always wanted to be the hero.

[somber music]

-She has this incredible
strength that I'm gonna do this.

I can do this, and
at the same time,

she has this vulnerability,

she has nervousness,
she has fear.

-The dark stuff, the drug
stuff, whatever it was,

she thought that being alive

and open and playful and
sexy and all of those things,

she inherited some
of that from her mom.

-When Liza became
more vulnerable

and at times in her
life, I was surprised

because she better
than anyone knew

and had vowed, you know,
never to be anything less

than the totally sharp,
responsible person.

-But I was very worried

'cause I thought she was making
some wrong moves personally

and I loved her and she
was like my baby sister.

-Watching my mom,

I swore on my life that
I would never take drugs

until I realized I was doing it.

You know, being Judy
Garland's daughter

is not a lot of laughs.

♪ Life is just a
bowl of cherries ♪

♪ Some take it serious ♪

♪ Life's too mysterious ♪

♪ You work, you say ♪

-So we hear stories of
what it was like to grow up

with a mother who was both
so unbelievably talented,

but also who's had,
you know, her demons,

struggled with alcohol
and drug addiction.

And Liza Minnelli tells stories

of her mother locking
herself in the bathroom

and threatening
to commit suicide.

-Her mother was a person

who deeply, deeply
loved her daughter.

She famously said, "I'm
giving up drugs and pills

and I'm going to be a good
mother for my daughter."

But she couldn't sustain that
because she was addicted.

♪ It's just a bowl of cherries ♪

♪ So live and laugh at it all ♪

-She became
incredibly protective

of her mother at
a very early age

because she
understood her mother.

-She's taught me a great deal.

-[Interviewer] Have you learned
anything from her mistakes

as well as from
her achievements?

-Yes, I have.

Most of the mistakes
that have been made

that I've been around
have not been her fault.

♪ So live and you
laugh at it all ♪

-The relationship
was complicated,

and yet when she sees
her mom on TV, she melts.

She just admires that talent
and that person and that soul.

-Fred Ebb really
taught me about sobriety

because he started to notice

that I was getting a
little fuzzy on stage.

I was doing too much.

And somebody would
say, "Have a drink.

It'll make you feel better."

So I took advantage
of that. [laughing]

[intense music]

-Liza knew that she
came from certain genes

which are addictive
and she needed help.

[intense music continues]

-When Liza Minnelli went
to the Betty Ford Clinic,

this was in the newspapers,

but one of the things
that's distinctive

about her relationship to
having been in some sense

outed as a celebrity with
a substance abuse problem

is that she didn't
run away from that.

She wasn't closeted
about her struggles

in a way that so many
other celebrities had been.

-I think that there
are a lot of people

who don't know that
they had a problem

like I didn't know until
I got so physically weak.

All prescription
drugs are the same.

They're insidious.

And at first they do do what
you take them to do with it.

They hold a very
busy life together.

But then if you don't
stop taking them,

you just keep merrily
going on thinking

that they can't hurt you.

Eventually become toxic.

-And I think that was
very brave of Liza to do

and I think it was
welcomed despite the shock

because I think people were
happy to see her not following

that footstep of her mother's,

as in just being
a hopeless case.

-But it took a lot of guts
for you to decide to go public

because you put yourself
in the inevitable position

of them saying, "Well,
she's gonna follow

truly in her
mother's footsteps."

-I really believe

in saying when something's
wrong and fixing it.

Again, it didn't have
anything to do with my mother.

-She spoke so frankly
about alcoholism

and about addiction
that I thought

was the most courageous
thing she had ever done.

-There's thousands
of people out there

who are having the same problem.

The knowledge that
you're not alone

is the first step
to getting better.

-She became a champion of AA

and other treatment programs,

and even though she
had continued struggles

for different reasons
through a number of years,

she never gave up.

-She's a survivor.

She's come through all that
with her heart and soul intact.

[people chattering]

-Liza.
-Hello.

Hello.
[people clapping]

-It's my agent, you
don't have to applaud.

-So, in aftermath of
her mother's death,

a long decade of the
'70s, Oscar, Emmy, Tony,

a fixture in the cultural
scene in newspapers

and tabloids, this would
be an extraordinary record

of achievement over
an entire career,

let alone stuffed into a decade.

-Imagine that.
-You were one

of the [indistinct].
-Thank you.

I'm glad you liked it.

-She did it.

This young girl who was born
into show business royalty

had to invent herself
who had these challenges.

She knew what she needed.

She built this loyal, loving
family of friends and mentors

and followed this
sort of intuition

to become this iconic person.

-Listen!

[people chattering]

To the band that made
me feel like the best

band singer in the world,

I can't tell you what it's
like singing in front of you.

-She could have died like
her mother. She hasn't.

-[Speaker] We'd like
to thank the orchestra

that worked with us.
-People respond to that.

I think they see
the vulnerability.

-[Speaker] Really do
think you were terrific,

probably the best
orchestra they have.

-They see somebody
not unlike themselves,

who knows rejection,
sorrow, and loss,

and they see her courage
to get up on a stage

and put those sequins on.

She's brave, she
pushes on, you know?

-Yay!
[all clapping]

-[Liza] Thank you,
you're so terrific.

[all clapping]

-[Speaker] Well said.
[all clapping]

[gentle music]

[audience cheering]

[audience chanting]

[audience cheering]

-Let's try one, what the hell.

[gentle piano music]

♪ Sometimes you're happy
and sometimes you're sad ♪

♪ But the world goes round ♪

♪ And sometimes you lose ♪

♪ Every nickel you had ♪

♪ But the world goes round ♪

♪ Sometimes your dreams
get broken in pieces ♪

♪ But that doesn't
matter at all ♪

♪ Take it from me ♪

♪ There's still gonna be ♪

♪ A summer, a winter,
a spring and a fall ♪

♪ Oh once a friend
starts treating you bad ♪

♪ For the world goes round ♪

♪ And sometimes
your heart breaks ♪

♪ With a deafening sound ♪

♪ Somebody loses
and somebody wins ♪

♪ And one day it's kicks ♪

♪ And it's kicks in the shins ♪

♪ But the planet spins ♪

♪ And the world goes
round and round ♪

[man] Can you
think of a star who's managed

to equal a famous parent?

Well, one who did
is Liza Minnelli,

the daughter of a
superstar, Judy Garland.

-It's Lonely at the top.

-And Academy Award-winning

film director Vincente Minnelli.

Liza has become a
superstar on her own.

♪ Round ♪

[grand music]

[upbeat drumbeat music]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

[upbeat drumbeat
music continues]

-No? All right.
-Put a mark on her face.

-Aw.
-CB that was marvelous.

-Did you like that?

Now, let's take it
again from the top.

[device beeping]